Overview
Voltaggio left The Dining Room in 2010 and announced plans to open his own restaurant in West Hollywood, California, in a space owned by former Hollywood super agent Michael Ovitz. After several delays, the restaurant ink. opened on September 21, 2011. Voltaggio’s goal with the restaurant was to create what he called “modern Los Angeles cuisine.” The restaurant seated 60 people in the dining room with a private room that could accommodate an additional 10 guests. It was named “America’s best new restaurant” by GQ Magazine in March 2012.
Voltaggio was quietly planning a smaller restaurant around the corner, a sandwich shop called ink.sack, while publicly developing and readying ink. Voltaggio designed and built the shop himself and surprised the culinary world when he opened the small restaurant with little notice or fanfare. From August 11, 2011 until 2018, he owned and ran the ink.sack, a sandwich shop which had two locations, including one on Melrose Avenue (in West Hollywood) and one on Sunset Boulevard.
Michael, along with brother Bryan, opened STRFSH, a fast-casual fish sandwich shop in Santa Monica, open from October 2017 to 2021. The Voltaggio brother opened Estuary in Washington D.C., which operated under their leadership from 2019 until March 2022.
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